New Archbishop of Portland: Alexander Sample!

Vatican City, 29 January 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Alexander King Sample as archbishop of the archdiocese of Portland (area 76,937, population 3,296,705, Catholics 412,725, priests 300, permanent deacons 72, religious 653), Oregon, USA. Bishop Sample, previously bishop of Marquette, Michigan, USA, was born in Kalispell, Montana, USA, in 1960, was ordained to the priesthood in 1990, and received episcopal ordination in 2006. In the national bishops’ conference he currently serves on the Subcommittees on Native American Catholics and on the Catechism. He is also vice-postulator for the cause for canonisation of Venerable Frederic Baraga, first bishop of the Diocese of Marquette. He succeeds Archbishop John George Vlazny, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

I have written about Archbp. Sample quite a few times. Above, where you see a link on his name, you can find my tag for him and look back over the years.

However, I bring to your attention the great sermon he gave last summer at Assumption Grotto parish in Detroit, which was downloaded quite a few times and made the rounds. He explains his thought on liturgical worship in clear, hard-hitting terms.

Some people reported a problem with the higher res video, which is large. There is lower resolution and audio only. Enjoy! I sure did.

92 Responses to New Archbishop of Portland: Alexander Sample!

Congratulations to Archbishop-designate Sample! May he bring and spread the TLM/EF liturgy throughout his new archdiocese in Oregon. God bless him.

Personally, I thought he might be going to Chicago to replace retiring AB Cdl. George but that might have been too big of an administrative leap – going from a small diocese to a huge archdiocese. Perhaps the Pope is grooming him like they did with AB Chaput.

Looking at the ages of current bishops and their dioceses, I wouldn’t be surprised if Boston or Philadelphia would be next, in a year or 7, 8. And either of these could come with a red hat. Abp Sample would be only 60 by then, so that would give him another 15 years in a major role.

Hmmm…reading about and studying his great insights and devotion to true orthodoxy…wonder if the lightweights at OCP are thinking this might be a game changer…since it is a project that’s run by the diocese out there…but, considering the political and social climate in that state, I’m sure he has bigger fish to barbecue.

Actually, Bryan, the OCP mess is something that needs to be addressed. Not too long ago, Bishop Sample posted on the Musica Sacra forum that he was looking for an organist for his cathedral. He seems to take sacred music very seriously. The most important act that we do as Catholics is to pray the Mass. If this is done poorly, then everything else, every other fish to be fried, loses its meaning.

The problem is that OCP has been allowed to spread like a cancer throughout practically every diocese in the United States. Bad music contributes to bad liturgies and these lead to weakened faith. Yes, other issues are important, but, until we address the issue of right worship, the rest will never be completely solved.

What a loss for us here in Michigan, but what joy for the people of Oregon! Most certainly, a great gain for the Church! I am grateful to have had His Excellency nearby as long as we did, knowing all the while that our Holy Father had bigger plans for him.

Only 400k Catholics in the Portland Archdiocese, but watch those conversions come flooding in now!

Living in the adjacent Diocese of Baker I pray for the new Archbishop and pray that he will have a positive influence on, and embolden, his brother Bishops in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Certainly Archbishop Sample’s strong “spine” and his support for orthodoxy(which includes the TLM)should prove to be a positive influence on fellow Bishops in the Pacific Northwest who have been “on the fence” due to the influence of the prior “administration”. With the recent and positive appointments in Seattle and San Francisco maybe there is hope for the left coast after all.

He has his work cut out for him. Not only is there the OCP fiasco but the pro gay, pro “choice” element runs deep among “catholics” in the region who have not been properly taught for decades.

One of the more controversial actions of Bp. Sample while in Marquette was his issuance of a pastoral letter (which I support) on deacons in which he declared that the preaching of homilies at Mass by permanent deacons “should not occur . . . on a routine or regularly
scheduled basis.” He is the kind of shepherd the Church really needs right now.

He said:
“In conclusion, then, two diocesan norms for permanent deacons preaching
the homily at Mass are to be observed:

1. The permanent deacon may be entrusted with the homily at Mass on
certain occasions, in other words from time to time, as circumstances
suggest. This should not occur, however, on a routine or regularly
scheduled basis.

2. According to paragraph #66 of the General Instruction to the Roman
Missal, it is for the priest celebrant of the Mass to make the determination
as to when the permanent deacon may be entrusted with the homily. This
determination should be made under the direction of the pastor of the
parish where the homily is delivered.

The pastor and the permanent deacon assigned to the parish should have a
discussion and come to an understanding as to when it is opportune that the
permanent deacon be entrusted with the homily at Mass.
The permanent deacon should pay careful attention to the other opportunities
he has to preach at liturgical services and in the course of his daily living in
witness to Christ and the teachings of the Church.”

The entire pastoral letter can be read at the link below wherein he fully explains and delineates his reasoning but particularly in the section entitled “The permanent deacon and preaching “:

Catholics who desire a solemn liturgy suffer in this diocese. I was deinied Holy Communion by a deacon on Corpus Christi 2012, because I was kneeling to receive. Applauding the choir-guitar band is expected at nearly every Mass I’ve been to, save at a few parishes, like the Dominican parish in Portland and at the one and only “indult” parish [still called that] in the entire diocese — which is out in the boonies, along a road on the Columbia River Gorge that frequently ices up. (It’s worth the long drive, though; their pastor is a godly priest.)

I am filled with joy and hope by this good news – will be flying home for the installation Mass and serving champagne for sure. Deo gratias!!

I grieve for the poor people of the Diocese of MArquette. Michigan is in such dire need of good bishops, and they are always taken from us. I’ll continue to pray for the good Bishop and the people of the U.P..

Rob I had the same reaction, as we are relocating to Maine later this year. My first reaction was “yes!!!!” as I have been praying for a pious and orthodox bishop for the Diocese of Portland ME, but then saw that it was Oregon :(

At least this is good news for those folks on the (now slightly less) Left Coast.

I sense a pattern. Those dioceses most in need of serious help have had remarkably good fortune in their new bishops recently.

I’m sure Marquette will miss him. But it’s clear that Portland needs him quite badly. Good for him. Good for Portland. And good for His Holiness, whose secret plan to fix the grave problems in the Church in America becomes more obvious with every appointment. :)

Thank you, Fr. Z, for posting this. I am so glad I stayed up after my early morning visit to our Adoration Chapel at St. Joseph’s here in Salem. I was the first among my friends to get the news that we have been waiting for & praying for here in the Portland archdiocese for quite a while, so I got to text everyone with the good news :-)
As a fairly new revert, it was so exciting to see all the posts about him along with a quick trip to his Facebook page. He definitely seems to be exactly what we need in Oregon! Can’t wait to see what changes might (hopefully, will) occur!

@ Rob in Maine, @ Jon Patrick – and conversely, I was holding back my emotions as I read, thinking, “don’t get excited; this is probably about Portland, ME…” There must be hidden saints who prayed for our new shepherd to come; I pray you get the same.

Do you think it’s out-of-line to write to him in advance? Yes, to forewarn him about what’s going on [e.g., “gays” listed together as a family unit in a parish directory; or a pastor allowing a pant-suit-wearing woman religious to deliver the homily at Sunday Mass]. It is understood by those I know who have tried to see our bishop in the past about issues that his chancery in Portland keeps tight control over access to him and information…

To continue my wild speculation – informed by no more than a look at current bishops, their ages and times in office in various dioceses – I’d tip Nienstedt for Chicago. Olmsted would be in the picture for Saint Paul and Minneapolis then. As for Perry, you mean Chicago’s current auxiliary? I doubt someone who has been an auxiliary bishop for 15 years would get a top-tier post. I don’t know the man, and I hope there’s something else at play, but after being an auxiliary for that long, one starts to wonder if some-one may have concluded that this person is not a good choice for the administration of a diocese.

New Sister
Perhaps a better idea would be to suggest that his chancery needs some cleaning out; diplomatically put, that you hope for many opportunities to interact with the new Abp.

Does anybody know anything about the new auxiliary bishop in Atlanta? Msgr. David Talley?
He was pastor at St. Brigid’s – which has a reputation as an orthodox parish – but it’s a long way away from me and I don’t even know anyone in the parish.

Oregon Catholic Press. They print/publish/distribute a lot of the missalettes and hymnals used in many parishes across the USA.

They are often paperback and only last for a short calendar period. Consequently, parishes spend a lot of money on subscriptions when they could make a one-time purchase of an orthodox, hardback missal/hymnal.

This is absolutely monumental! Its going to take me a while for this to sink in!

But now that we have received this tremendous news, it is paramount to PRAY for Archbp. Sample, the Archdiocese of Portland, and especially for a positive and genuine ACCEPTANCE by the people and clergy of the Archdiocese. This could be a huge step forward, but a step taken gingerly. With the introduction of any new leader with strong views, regardless of how positive, there will naturally be resistance. With this in mind, it is essential to remember that those who oppose our views and even the official teachings of the Church are not enemies to be fought, but brothers and sisters to be embraced and lifted up in prayer and love. Love, not politics, conquers all.

To say I’m delighted for my former adopted archdiocese would be an understatement. Never residing there, I did visit frequently during the times of the two Cardinals-furono-Archbishops Levada and George, and also Abp. Vlazny. The latter was hit very hard by the mess created by the abuser-priests; I wish him better times in his retirement years. God’s blessings on the new Archbishop, ad multos annos!

Perhaps we may see the Holy Father appointing some 32-year-old bishops and some 38-year-old cardinals. And indeed, one would not dislike seeing the creation of a few major basilicas so that that certain well-deserving bishops may be made their archpriests.

Fantastic. Waiting to see what happens here in Great Britain with vacant and soon to be vacant sees….There just are not enough good men to go around the States and Europe. I think the Pope will have to make some new bishops soon. I hope so…………..

Portland, Oregon here. We have been praying so long and hard for an archbishop who will end the suppression of the EF Mass in this archdiocese. Alleluia! I just returned from a celebration luncheon. There may be only 400K Catholics here, but God loves us too, we’ve been suffering a very long time, and I hope the archbishop stays long enough to really make a difference. There are lots of messes to clean up. This is the most hope I’ve felt in a very long time. Archbishop Sample: if you are reading this, there’s lots of support here for the Usus Antiquior. We just need a climate that promotes it. Up until now, priests here have been afraid to offer the old Mass. Given a chance, the EF Mass could thrive here.

I live in the Archdiocese of Detroit, but I have had the privilege in recent years, to hear Bishop Sample speak at two local events; one was the Call to Holiness conference last year, and the other was the Holy Trinity Apostolate’s Lenten Symposium a few years ago. He is such a holy man, and an outstanding bishop! I’m sure the entire UP will miss their beloved bishop. To all the folks in Portland – you truly have been blessed!

I hope that Archbishop Sample will have better luck with OCP than Bishop Finn and his predecessors have had with NCR. My guess is that OCP would give him as much respect as Bishop Finn gets from NCR. As for the control of information, in today’s world, a bishop need not be in the dark if he does not want to be. Unless he stays in the chancery all day and allows others to feed him information, he can find out how things truly are if he wants to get out into the diocese and be informed. If all else fails, he can get on Internet and get uncensored information. For the right price, he could even recruit me to wander around Portland for a few years if he’s hard up for reliable information.

My guess is that OCP would give him as much respect as Bishop Finn gets from NCR.

That is neither true nor fair. First of all one is engaged in journalism and the other is a hymnal/worship aid which are two entire different things. And OCP carries a nihil obstat which is important to their marketing. The NCR is an independent publication and therefore does not need nor would not desire a nihil obstat.

OCP is very careful to operate “according to Hoyle,” for example their responsorial psalms texts take exactly no liberties and follow the lectionary exactly.

I wonder how much power the bishop of that city really has over the OCP? As others have said I suspect he has enough real work to do than to try to ram his own liturgical tastes down the throats of OCP’s many subscribers.

Basically OCP does not want to loose subscribers. If they can find a bishop outside Portland to give a nihil obstat or whatever that will suffice I am sure. I can’t imagine that this bishop’s eccentric tastes would put much of a dent into the OCP materials.

I met him some time ago. My sons L O V E D him(me too). He will be an inspiration to vocations
for certain and he is a great Bishop. It is a great loss for the UP, Michigan has had some BAD bishops.
It is troubling as it becomes a barren wasteland without a good shepherd. I pray they and other
Diocese in Michigan get some good solid Bishops.

Basically OCP does not want to loose subscribers. If they can find a bishop outside Portland to give a nihil obstat or whatever that will suffice I am sure. I cansay ’t imagine that this bishop’s eccentric tastes would put much of a dent into the OCP materials.

1. I agree that it’s unlikely that the new bishop spend any time on the OCP.

2. I realize that the way you have been trained is to consider liturgical “taste”, but the importance and significance of Latin liturgy is that, though it might fit certain tastes, it is catholic (universal).

On April 8, 1808, the Holy See raised Baltimore to the status of an Archdiocese. At the same time, the dioceses of Philadelphia, Boston, Bardstown and New York were created.

According to the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon’s website, it was established and given its first bishop in 1846 prior to its admittance to the Union as a state in 1859. Previously, it was established by the Oregon Treaty as U.S. Territory in 1846. Prior to that is disputed:

THE ARCHDIOCESE OF PORTLAND IN OREGON is the second oldest Archdiocese in the United States. It follows only the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland, which was founded in 1789. In 1996 the Archdiocese celebrated the Sesquicentennial (150th Anniversary) of its founding.

“According to their website, Archbishop Vlazny is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Cardinal Levada is a member of the Board.”

They are not the ones, I suspect, who gave the original nihil obstat. Some of the songs could bear further scrutiny, in my opinion. For example, I had a long combox exchange with a representative of OCP about the song, You Satisfy the Hungry Heart…, which, seems to have also caused George Weigel some problems, as well. OCP captured the market soon after Vatcan II, although not by the consent of musicologists. I posted a history of OCP’s rise to dominance a few months ago contained in Mnsr. Schuller’s musicological history of the period. There is no reason for it to have a monopoly on Church music, although, if someone knows – were they adopted by the USCCB?

Perhaps Wikipedia is mistaken once again. Wouldn’t be the first time:
“On July 24, 1846, Pope Pius IX divided the existing vicariate apostolic into three dioceses: Oregon City (Oregonopolitanus); Walla Walla (Valle Valliensis); and Vancouver Island (Insula Vancouver). On July 29, 1850, the Diocese of Oregon City was elevated to an archdiocese with Archbishop Blanchet continuing to serve as its first archbishop.”

So, was it designated a diocese or an archdiocese in 1846? There is some confusion. It’s possible that Portland, Oregon is the second oldest archdiocese, but it’s certainly not “the second oldest see in the country.” That would go to Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Bardstown.

Will do more research with regard to Portland’s archdiocesan inception date. I’m curious of the significance of “July 29, 1850″ which Wikipedia cited. Where did that date come from?

Just because someone has been granted a nihil obstat does not mean that it is permanent. Nor does it mean that it is a blanket approval of all of OCP’s works. After all, as Jesus once said, “God can make even the stones children of Abraham.”

OCP has contributed to the significant decline of sacred music in two languages, English and Spanish. If the English music is bad, try suffering through the drek in Spanish. I hope that Archbishop Sample can finally do something to clean house at OCP.

I like to use the resources of Gcatholic.com to chart the history of dioceses, and according to this page (http://www.gcatholic.com/dioceses/events/US.htm) neither Portland or New York are the oldest archdioceses in the United States. After Baltimore in 1808, Saint Louis became one on 20 July 1847, followed by Cincinatti, New Orleans and New York on 19 July 1850. Oregon City would have been the fifth ten days later. The Archdiocese of Oregon City was then suppressed on 26 September 1928 to allow for the establishment of Portland in Oregon. But Portland would have had the distinction of being the first archdiocese to have been established as an archdiocese from its foundation. Even though it is very much the immediate successor of Oregon City, it did not replace that see, for Oregon City was reestablished as a separate and titular metropolitan archdiocese, held since 2009 by a certain Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia.

There is enough music in the public domain that any church interested enough could make their own music book for their church – except for one hitch. The music must be approved by the USCCB for use in the United States. When I use iBreviary for the Office, sometimes the Hymns are taken from other sources and not permissible in the U. S.

GILH:
177. New hymns can be set to traditional melodies of the same rhythm and meter.

178. For vernacular celebration, the conferences of bishops may adapt the Latin hymns to suit the character of their own language and introduce fresh compositions, [13] provided these are in complete harmony with the spirit of the hour, season, or feast. Great care must be taken not to allow popular songs that have no artistic merit and are not in keeping with the dignity of the liturgy.

[13] makes reference to Sacrosantum Concilium:
39. Within the limits set by the typical editions of the liturgical books, it shall be for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, to specify adaptations, especially in the case of the administration of the sacraments, the sacramentals, processions, liturgical language, sacred music, and the arts, but according to the fundamental norms laid down in this Constitution.

The really sad thing is that SC also says:

3) Because liturgical laws often involve special difficulties with respect to adaptation, particularly in mission lands, men who are experts in these matters must be employed to formulate them.

Now, at the time of SC, the U. S. was a missionary land. Hence, it should have been musicologists who had a background in Sacred music who should have formulated the music used in the Vernacular. Were they allowed? No. They were ambushed by liturgical, “specialist,” quite in contradistinction to what SC mandated. You can read in Mnsr. Schuller’s article how the process got hi-jacked. There was a meeting, at the same time, of musicologists, who, if memory serves, were approved for the process of formulating a Vernacular hymnal by the Vatican, who got shut-out of the process. OCP were first out of the gate and maintained control, ever since.

Cecily, Incaelo,
I contacted the Archdiocesan Communications director in Portland, Oregon via email. He said that the Papal Bull is locked up in their vault but it states it was erected as an Archdiocese in 1846 and the statements on its website are accurate. The page I sent him from the Official Catholic Directory (1908 edition?) is in error according to him.

Oregon was part of the Archdiocese of Quebec until Dec 1, 1843.
Quebec became an Archdiocese Jan 12, 1819; would that make it the 2nd archdiocese in what is now the territory of the US?
The original See of Oregon City extended up to Vancouver in Canada, east to Montana, and south to California and Nevada–a gigantic, sparsely inhabited place at the time.

Looking at things from the Spanish perspective, the parts of the US that were Spanish (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) were part of the Archdiocese of Sevilla, erected about A.D. 400.
I doubt that anybody could beat that!

The diocese of of Carolense split off in 1518, which lost territory to the diocese of Tiaxcala in 1525.
In 1530 Tiaxcala lost territory to the diocese of Mexico which was elevated to an Archdiocese in 1546.
The almost-Archdiocese of Mexico lost territory in 1536 to the diocese of Michoacan,
which lost territory in 1548 to the diocese of Guadalajara,
which lost territory in 1620 to the diocese of Durango,
which lost territory in 1779 to the diocese of Sonora,
which lost territory in 1840 to the diocese of the Two Californias (renamed, in 1849 after the Gold Rush, to the Diocese of Monterey),
which lost territory to for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1853, three years after California was admitted to the United States.
The first archbishop of San Francisco was Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany y Conill, O.P., a who was bishop of the Diocese of Monterey from 1850. He was born near Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and entered the Dominicans in 1830.

fvhale, as I have gathered from previous posts, I think you live in the northwest and, as I recall, I think you are a cleric. But the question remains, was Portland the second Archdiocese (not part of another diocese) in the US (or what would become the US) – or not? Maybe you have access to that Papal Bull in the chancery vault. ;-)

You know, this would make for a great wager between the archbishops of Portland, St. Louis, Cincinnati, New Orleans and New York. Maybe they will all attend Bishop Sample’s installation and someone will be the recipient of a wonderful fresh salmon dinner!

Dear acardnal,
Actually, I am a lifetime California resident (northern and southern), having arrived before the papal election of Bl. Pope John XXIII. I am just a regular Joe Catholic layman, and a sinner. I have family roots in the state back to the Spanish mission parties, and more recent Anglo arrivals overland from Missouri by wagon in 1860, with a great-grandfather, of mixed Anglo and Spanish heritage, baptized in 1890 in the Los Angeles Mission Church. My mother, of good German Catholic stock from immigrants to America in the late 1800’s, was confirmed by Timothy Cardinal Manning when he was just an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Dear fvhale,
Well……darn it. I guess you don’t know the secret combo to the safe then. In that case, as a layman, maybe you can pull an “Ocean’s Eleven” number and get into that chancery vault! (joke). Inquiring minds want to know what was the second archdiocese established in the USA. I’m sure there is a church historian on this blog somewhere. I haven’t found the USCCB website too helpful.

Ken Canedo’s book, “Keep the Fire Burning: The Folk Mass Revolution” might be of interest to some of you. It tells who all the rebels were, and I’m 99% sure I remember it having a good long history of OCP. Ken goes to my territorial parish…played piano music for their Epiphany party.

Acardnal: Sorry, I’ve just skimmed your interesting posts…busy day thanking God for our new archbishop :-)
But some quick googling seems to indicate that we were an independent archdiocese before Portland Maine was an independent diocese. Of course, we all know the town of Portland Maine is older than Portland Oregon…we were named after Portland Maine. Just having a little fun with them. I’d love to visit there sometime. OK, gotta get back to the celebrations!

New Sister: if you’re near the Rogue River area on February 10, it’s going to be our first TLM . . . well first scheduled TLM anyway. Come check it out! 6 PM: Our Lady of the River (wish they could change it to Our Lady Help of Christians).

@ Absit invidia – thank you for the news. I’m a Corvallis girl but am out-of-state (military service). If Rogue River offers the TLM regularly, I’ll be there on my next trip home. Need to show my godchildren this tremendous gift from God. I shall pray for your priest – God bless!!

@New Sister: the mass is only quarterly for now. See the Southern Oregon Una Voce site for dates: http://southernoregonunavoce.blogspot.com/
Thanks for sharing the photos of St. Boniface’s – very rich with Catholic heritage it appears, and it would serve well for a TLM. May want to consider asking the new Archbishop to bring the FSSP.

I haven’t read Ken Canedo’s book, but from perusing his web site, his book looks interesting. His assertion that chant was the first folk music of the Church is correct, but needs to be nuanced. Chant developed from the found up and was then imposed on the Church. There was no spontaneous development of the modern folk Masses at the ground level (except in the minds of some wacky liturgies). It was simply imposed by a group of liberal liturgists (including a few infamous bishops). It could have been, should have been, resisted by the laity as a form of asserting the Sensus Catholicus, but people back then were a trusting lot, sure that their pastors would never lead them wrong.

Cecily, when you make your visit to Portland Maine, don’t miss the TLM at the Cathedral at 12 PM Sunday. Or for an earlier Mass, make the 40 minute drive North up I95 to Lewiston for the 8 AM TLM at the gorgeous Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. Then after breakfast at the Governor’s Restaurant, back to Portland for a day of sightseeing, with dinner at one of the many fine restaurants in the Old Port.

Chicken: Ken Canedo is one of the liberal liturgists who imposed the folk mass on the rest of us. His book is from their perspective, and describes in detail how and when bishops were disobeyed. Quite an eye opener.

Father Z: thank you for grouping all your previous posts about Archbishop Sample. Reviewing all these and the commentary has been very helpful.

Most Rev Sample is already having arrows aimed at him, based on today’s interview in the Oregonian–many prayers needed on his behalf.

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2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests."

Additional Food For Thought

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Fathers, you don’t know who might show up! It could be a “big fish” of one sort or other…

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Food For Thought

“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites. . . . Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

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